Once-only colonoscopy or two rounds of faecal immunochemical testing 2 years apart for colorectal cancer screening (SCREESCO): preliminary report of a randomised controlled trial.

Koskenvuo L, Lunkka P, Varpe P, Hyoty M, Satokari R, Haapamaki C et al.

JAMA Surg 2024; 159: 606-614.  

In this study that included 565 procedures, the addition of oral antibiotics reduced the rate of surgical site infections (odds ratio 0.45, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.27 to 0.77) and anastomotic leaks (0.39, 0.21 to 0.72).

Comment: The authors suggest this should be the standard of care.

Leite RMA, Seo DJ, Gomez-Eslava B, Hossain S, Lesegretain A, de Souza AV et al.

JAMA Surg. ;157: 828-834.

This analysis of eight RCTs showed that the main outcomes were similar: successful treatment at 30 days, major adverse events. The non-operative group had a longer hospital stay and a higher rate of recurrent appendicitis (18 per cent).

Comment: Useful data to help clinicians use an individualised approach.

Traeger L, Bedrikovetski S, Fitzsimmons T, Nguyen T-M, Moore JW, Lewis M et al.

Br J Surg 2024; 111: znae121.

Pyridostigmine 60mg given orally twice daily after surgery reduced the duration of ileus by one day, measured by the GI-2 tool (P=0.015) in this study that included 130 patients, but did not affect the duration of hospital stay.

Comment: Apart from speeding return of bowel function, it is not clear what the benefit is overall.